San Diego cracked down Tuesday on “rogue” sidewalk vendors in downtown and other vendors in parks and beaches who use free-speech claims to skirt city restrictions on where they can operate.
The City Council unanimously approved a complex and comprehensive enforcement framework that city officials say will help restore the look and feel of many popular tourist areas flooded with vendors in recent years.
The new legislation fundamentally changes the city’s 2022 street vendor law, making it easier to impound the carts of rule-breaking vendors and limiting where free-speech vendors can operate.
The legislation also carefully defines which kinds of vendor activities have free-speech protections, such as political efforts, selling art a person made themselves, fortune telling, face painting and making balloon sculptures.
The revised law makes it clear that singing and street performing are also protected activities, which means those activities are exempt from many vendor restrictions but may be restricted to special free-speech zones.
Activities that lack free speech protections include selling food, clothing, jewelry, soaps, oils and creams. In addition, yoga, exercise classes and dog training are not protected.
However, the legislation says almost any activity could potentially be eligible for free-speech protections if it is “inextricably intertwined” with political, religious or ideological messages.
Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, who spearheaded the initial legislation and these revisions, said the new legislation strikes the right balance.
“These amendments aim to create an environment where permitted vendors can continue to thrive and provide valuable services to our residents,” said Campbell, whose district includes Mission Beach and Ocean Beach. “They also create a balance between protecting constitutional rights, like free speech, and maintaining public order.”
The Coastal Coalition, a group of community leaders representing the city’s coastal neighborhoods, expressed opposition based on concerns the law doesn’t specify the locations of the free-speech zones and lobbied city officials to add them.
“Without these changes, the city does not have to create the zones and can expand the number of zones without any community input,” said Larry Webb, a coalition member and leader of the Mission Beach Town Council.
He said the coalition and city officials agreed on specific locations for three free-speech zones in both La Jolla and Mission Beach, and two free-speech zones in both Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach.
Venus Molina, Campbell’s chief of staff and the primary author of the legislation, said making the city’s rules too specific could limit flexibility when it comes to making changes.
Webb also said the new legislation’s attempt to crack down on amplified music could work in Balboa Park, but will be unenforceable in beach communities.
“Don’t destroy a good day at the beach by allowing loud-amplified music,” he said.
The legislation limits decibel levels to 65 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and to 55 the other half of the day.
Most other local organizations and public speakers expressed strong support for the revisions.
Merchants in downtown, East Village, Little Italy and the sidewalks around Petco Park say those areas get flooded each weekend by food vendors who have been accused of threatening and intimidating other vendors and operators of brick-and-mortar businesses.
The revisions give police and park rangers broad latitude to immediately impound carts when they believe vendors are breaking city rules, obstructing sidewalks or creating unsanitary conditions.
“These vendors exploit the lack of enforcement, jeopardizing patrons and the well-being of law-abiding establishments,” said Michael Trimble, executive director of the Gaslamp Quarter Association.
Diana Puetz, vice president of public affairs for the Padres, said the revisions are urgently needed with the team’s opening home game scheduled for March 28.
“We’ve consistently voiced our concerns about the hazardous conditions caused by certain vendors in the ballpark district,” she said. “We’ve experienced multiple incidents involving explosions and fires.”
Fred Tayco, executive director of the San Diego County Lodging Association, also expressed support for the new rules.
“Illegal sidewalk vending continues to present challenges in areas that are often frequented by visitors,” he said.
The legislation continues to make the Gaslamp a no-vending zone year-round and beach areas no-vending zones from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The new impound rules are modeled after a similar crackdown in Orange, a city near Anaheim that had been dealing with the same kinds of scofflaw vendors for years.
The proposal eliminates warnings for first offenses and moves directly to fines and impounding. A first offense is now $100 for someone with a vendor permit and $250 for someone without a permit.
Criteria for impounding includes failing to provide identification, failing to remove sale items that violate city rules, blocking pedestrian pathways, creating unsanitary or unsafe conditions and not having a health permit, vending permit or business license.
Alliance San Diego, a local nonprofit focused on inclusive democracy, criticized the crackdown for wiping out small gains made by sidewalk vending entrepreneurs under a 2018 state law, SB 946, that gave them more rights.
Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes downtown and Balboa Park, said he thinks the revisions manage to effectively thread the needle between vendor rights and needed enforcement.
“I feel these amendments strike the right balance,” he said.
